Dervish

Etymology

The actual etymology of the term is unknown. The New Persian word darvīš (درویش) may derive from Middle Persian daryōš "poor, needy". The term has also been constructed from the composition of dar "door" and awiz "hanging". referring to someone who "hangs around doors," i.e., begs at the doors. However, the term daryōš contradicts this.

These proposed meanings belong to folk etymologies, meaning that the term's meaning was ascribed after it had been established. Furthermore, there is no essential connection between begging and a dervish, and it is also said that a "true dervish" would abstain from begging.

Given the obscure etymologies given in Persian dictionaries, it has been suggested that the term may be of Turco-Buddhist origin and derive from the terms dharani and arvis (Old Turkish), referring to a "specialist in magic", as they are credited as folk healers, engaged in healing, performance of miracles, protection spells and more. Given that the term is mostly used in Central Asian, Turkish, and Persian cultures, the meaning of a dervish may be rooted in Turco-Buddhist beliefs, then transferred to Islam, where the meaning of the term was lost.

Religious practice

Dervishes try to approach God by virtues and individual experience, rather than by religious scholarship. Many dervishes are mendicant ascetics who have taken a vow of poverty, unlike mullahs. The main reason they beg is to learn humility, but dervishes are prohibited from begging for their own good. They have to give the collected money to other poor people. Others work in common professions; Egyptian Qadiriyya—known in Turkey as Kadiri—are fishermen, for example.

A study on dervishes among Bedouins reveals the process of initiation. It is believed that one does not choose to become a dervish, but is chosen to be one by God. This happens by receiving barakah, which happens during a dream or a conscious encounter with an angel. Barakah is usually received after an encounter with evil forces, supposedly manifesting in a preceding process of mental suffering. After receiving divine blessing, the gift might be forfeited if the dervish betrays God.

Dervishes also work as exorcists and healers. They are believed to be able to detect the presence of evil spirits, such as jinn and devils, by means of divine gifts. The exorcism can include negotiations or confrontations with the spirit in a spiritual world.

Some classical writers indicate that the poverty of the dervish is not economic. Saadi, for instance, who himself travelled widely as a dervish and wrote extensively about them, says in his Gulistan:

Rumi writes in Book 1 of his Masnavi:

Whirling dervishes

Main article: Sufi whirling

The whirling dance or Sufi whirling that is proverbially associated with dervishes is best known in the West by the practices (performances) of the Turkish-origin Mevlevi Order and is part of a formal ceremony known as the sama. It is, however, also practiced by other orders. The Sama is only one of many Sufi ceremonies performed to attain religious ecstasy (jadhb or fana). The name Mevlevi comes from the Persian-language poet Rumi, who was a dervish himself. This practice, though not intended as entertainment, has become a tourist attraction in Turkey.

Orders

There are various orders of dervishes, almost all of which trace their origins to various Muslim saints and teachers, especially Imam Ali. Various orders and suborders have appeared and disappeared over the centuries. Dervishes spread into North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Turkey, Anatolia, the Balkans, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Iran, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan.

Other dervish groups include the Bektashis, who were associated with the janissaries, and the Sanusiyya of the Maghreb, which is comparatively orthodox in theology and otherwise orthoprax. Other fraternities and subgroups chant āyat (Qur'anic verses), play drums, or whirl in groups, all according to their specific traditions. They practice meditation, as is the case with most of the Sufi orders in South Asia, many of whom owe allegiance to, or were influenced by, the Chishti Order. Each tariqa (order) has its own garb and methods of acceptance and initiation, some of which may be rather severe. The form of dervishism practised during the 17th century was centred on esotericism, patience, and pacifism.[[File:Madhist Dervish.jpg|thumb|180px|A [[Mahdist Sudan|Mahdist]] Dervish from Sudan (1899)]]

In literature

Various books discussing the lives of Dervishes can be found in Turkish literature. Death and the Dervish by Meša Selimović and The Dervish by Frances Kazan extensively discuss the life of a dervish. Similar works on the subject have been found in other books such as Memoirs of a Dervish: Sufis, Mystics and the Sixties by Robert Erwin. Majdeddin Ali Bagher Ne'matollahi has said that Sufism is a core of being and bridge between religion and science. Winston Churchill uses the term in his autobiography My Early Life.

Views on Dervishes

Dervishes and their Sufis practices are accepted by traditional Sunni Muslims but different groups such as Deobandis and Salafis regard various practices of Dervishes as un-Islamic.Syed, Jawad; Pio, Edwina; Kamran, Tahir; Zaidi, Abbas (2016-11-09). Faith-Based Violence and Deobandi Militancy in Pakistan. Springer. .

"They also criticises various practices including sama, qawwali, whirling etc. Whereas Sufis/Barelvi consider their beliefs and practices as mystical practices."

Gallery

File:Dervish rug.jpg|Dervish Azerbaijani rug, XIX c. Tabriz school, State Museum of Azerbaijan Carpet and Applied Art File:Amedeo Preziosi - Turks.jpg|Ottoman Dervishes portrayed by Amedeo Preziosi in Istanbul, 1857 File:Darvish bazaar.jpg|A Qajar-era Persian dervish, seen here from an 1873 depiction of Tehran's Grand Bazaar File:Constantinople(1878)-begging dervis.png|An Ottoman Dervish in Istanbul, 1878 File:Wrau-dervishes-damascus-cropped.jpg|Dervishes photographed by William H. Rau near Damascus, File:Dervish, 1913.jpg|A Palestinian Dervish in 1913 File:Muhammad Ahmad al-Mahdi.jpg|Muhammad Ahmad al-Mahdi, leader of the Sudanese Dervishes File:Keskul GrantBowl.JPG|Sufi kashkuls were often made from a coco de mer which ordinary beggars would have difficulty to find File:Kashkul, or Beggar’s Bowl, with Portrait of Dervishes and a Mounted Falconer, A.H. 1280.jpg|Kashkul, or Beggar's Bowl, with Portrait of Dervishes and a Mounted Falconer, A.H. 1280. Brooklyn Museum File:Brooklyn Museum - A Gathering of Dervishes.jpg|A Gathering of Dervishes in the Mughal Empire File:Brooklyn Museum - A Family of Dervishes.jpg|A family of Dervishes, possibly by Antoin Sevruguin (between 1876 and 1925) File:Dodwell Dervishes 2.jpg|The dance of the dervishes, Athens File:Friday afternoon Dervishes (8625532149).jpg|Sufi dervishes in Omdurman, Sudan File:Mohammed Abdullah Hassan-dj.jpg|Sayyid Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, head of Darawiish File:Sheykh_of_the_Rufai_Dervishes.jpg|A Sheikh of the Rifa'i Sufi Order

References

Relevant literature

• Xavier, Merin Shobhana. The Dervishes of the North: Rumi, Whirling, and the Making of Sufism in Canada. University of Toronto Press. 2023.

References

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3. Mansour Shaki. (2011). "DARVĪŠ". Iranicaonline.org.
4. (2017). "Darwīsh (Dervish)". [[Brill Publishers]].
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6. (1965). "Darwīs̲h̲". [[Brill Publishers]].
7. Laut, Jens Peter. "Vielfalt türkischer Religionen." (1996). Spirita pp. 31-32
8. Frederick William ''Hasluck Christianity and Islam Under the Sultans, Band 1'' Clarendon Press 1929 p. 281
9. Laut, J. P. (2003). Zur Sicht des Islam in der Türkischen Republik bis zum Tode Atatürks. in "Von Zentralasien bis Anatolien Philologische und religionswissenschaftliche Perspektiven auf die türkische Welt Kleine Schriften von Jens Peter Laut Herausgegeben von Gökhan Shilfeler und Hans Nugteren Harrassowitz Verlag pp. 401-405
10. Laut, J. P. (2003). Zur Sicht des Islam in der Türkischen Republik bis zum Tode Atatürks. in "Von Zentralasien bis Anatolien Philologische und religionswissenschaftliche Perspektiven auf die türkische Welt Kleine Schriften von Jens Peter Laut Herausgegeben von Gökhan Shilfeler und Hans Nugteren Harrassowitz Verlag pp. 401-405
11. Laut, J. P. (2003). Zur Sicht des Islam in der Türkischen Republik bis zum Tode Atatürks. in "Von Zentralasien bis Anatolien Philologische und religionswissenschaftliche Perspektiven auf die türkische Welt Kleine Schriften von Jens Peter Laut Herausgegeben von Gökhan Shilfeler und Hans Nugteren Harrassowitz Verlag pp. 401-405
12. Jens Peter Laut ''Vielfalt türkischer Religionen'' 1996 p. 29 (German)
13. Al-Krenawi, Alean, John R. Graham, and Benjamin Maoz. "The healing significance of the Negev's Bedouin Dervish." ''Social Science & Medicine'' 43.1 (1996): 13-21.
14. chapter 2 story 16: [https://archive.org/stream/gulistnorrosega00eastgoog/gulistnorrosega00eastgoog_djvu.txt "The Gulistān; or, Rose-garden, of Shek̲h̲ Muslihu'd-dīn Sādī of Shīrāz, translated for the first time into prose and verse, with an introductory preface, and a life of the author, from the Ātish Kadah"] a story later adapted by La Fontaine for his tale 'Le songe d'un habitant du Mogol'
15. ''The Masnavi: Book One'', translated by Jawid Mojaddedi, Oxford World's Classics Series, Oxford University Press, 2004. {{ISBN. 978-0-19-955231-3, p. 63.
16. Koentges, Chris. (2012-06-29). "13 Things The Whirling Dervishes Can Teach You About Spinning Until You're Dizzy Enough To Puke". The Very Ethnic Project.
17. B. Ghafurov, "Todjikon", 2 vols., [[Dushanbe]] 1983-5
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19. Erdoan, Nezih. "Star director as symptom: reflections on the reception of Fatih Akn in the Turkish media." ''New Cinemas: Journal of Contemporary Film'' 7.1 (2009): 27–38.
20. (1997). "Death and the Dervish". World Literature Today.
21. Frances., Kazan. (2013). "The dervish: a novel". Opus.
22. Robert, Irwin. (2013). "Memoirs of a Dervish: Sufis, Mystics and the Sixties". Profile Books Ltd.